10 August 2008

[design, type] Eureka Tower Carpark Signage: We Got An Angle

1696.


Speaking of architecture and especially of type, here's something that's been making the rounds lately. In Melbourne, Australia, the parking garage of the Eureka Tower apartment building has a delightful approach, and requires a certain approach:



(Image hotlinked from http://de-war.de/eurekacarpark.html)


The signage on the walls ... simple words like UP, DOWN, IN, OUT ... are painted on the walls such that for them to resolve, you have to be looking directly at them in the direction of travel.


The wayfinding system was desinged by Axel Peemöller and has won several international design awards, not to mention a flock of designers' blog mentions, not to mention this one, which we're mentioning.


See the whole thing here. Don't miss out on this one.


Tags: , , , , , ,



Powered by Qumana

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thats a clever to apply this perspective art I've been seeing a lot of, usually its just shapes and things.
Theres this one guy who, if anyone here is a stumbler will notice, pops up a lot, who does this with incredible images like holes in the floor or swimming pools and whatnot.
Art kicks some hell of a lotta ass.....TWICE!

Anonymous said...

I never get tired of looking at this. Truly beautiful, innovative design.

Samuel John Klein said...

That bit of "a-ha" you're feeling is stumbling on something that artists get trained in ... people know how to look, but they don't know how to see. Art like this pulls you out of a certain complacency and turns your brain on high.

Another thing about really amazing and surprising design is that whoever came up with what's really "wow"ing you sometimes didn't do something that outre ... they take something mundane and apply it in an expected place in an unexpected way (or in an unexpected place in an expected way). The designer here just did one thing essentially (the unexpected way) and that one thing really pushed the envelope.

This bit is an object lesson, so to speak.

Anonymous said...

A bit like Marguerite?

Samuel John Klein said...

A bit like Marguerite?

Sorry, that one went right past me.

Anonymous said...

Maybe I spelt his name wrong....

Samuel John Klein said...

Oh, you meant Magritte. Ah! I get you now. Well, the carpark signage doesn't exactly qualify as Surrealism, but I have a feeling that, at the gestalt (the basic, unconscious) level, they both have the same understanding of symbol and meaning.

Actually, I take that back. That stuff could function as a sort of surrealism if done just right.

Good on you that you just so happened to guess who my favorite surrealist was. I always thought Dali, while excellent, was overrated. He did know how to put on a show though. His personality had no equal until Andy Warhol came along ...